Medvedev clinches maiden clay court title at Italian Open

Daniil Medvedev claimed the first claycourt title of his career ahead of the French Open as the Russian world number three beat Denmark’s Holger Rune 7-5 7-5 in a gripping Italian Open final that began after a rain delay on Sunday.Medvedev’s fifth title of a stellar season and 20th overall leaves him as one of the top contenders for Roland Garros which begins on May 28.The 27-year-old, who was out of the top 10 in February, is set to climb to number two in the world and will take the second seeding behind Carlos Alcaraz in Paris, with Novak Djokovic dropping down to number three.Medvedev drew first blood in the first Rome final since 2004 not to feature 22-times Grand Slam champions Rafa Nadal or Djokovic, breaking in the 12th game where he met a feeble drop shot from Rune with a powerful drive to wrap up the first set.Rune, at 20 the youngest finalist at the Foro Italico since Spaniard Nadal 17 years ago, broke to love in the first game of the second set and pounced again for a 4-3 lead after Medvedev hit back to level the scores.But the aggressive world number seven appeared to run out of steam late in a physically demanding spell to hand the advantage back to Medvedev, who produced a tight hold thanks to two huge serves before closing out the victory in style."I always want to believe in myself and I always try to do my best as I want to win the biggest tournaments in the world,” Medvedev, who had not won a match in Rome before this year’s tournament, said."At the same time, honestly I didn’t believe much I can win a Masters 1000 on clay in my career because usually I hated it and I didn’t feel good on it, nothing was working. Before this tournament already in Madrid and Monte Carlo I was not feeling too bad. I didn’t have any big tantrums and was like ‘OK, let’s continue’ and here I felt amazing in practice."But then you need to play the toughest opponents in the world and try to make it. I’m really happy that I managed to do it and prove to myself and everybody that I’m capable."It was a tough match,” Medvedev said. "I think we were both a bit nervous at the start and I think we were both missing our basics. We were missing some easy shots, so I am happy I managed to step it up at the end of the first set. But then at the start of the second set he stepped it up straight away and I was like ‘OK, this is the moment I have to start playing better and go to his level’. Then it was a top match from this stage.”In an entertaining final, Medvedev demonstrated patience to hang in rallies and frustrate Rune. The 27-year-old won 83 per cent (20/24) of his first-serve points in the first set and earned the decisive break of the set in the 12th game. Rune responded by breaking Medvedev’s serve at the start of the second set and was in consistent dialogue with coach Patrick Mouratoglou during changeovers. However, from 5-3 up, Rune faltered.Medvedev locked in from the baseline and refused to miss, piling the pressure on Rune, who failed to serve out. Rune was then unable to hit through Medvedev in the 12th game of the second set, with the 27-year-old breaking again to improve to 1-1 in his ATP Head2Head series against the Dane.Meanwhile Marco Cecchinato found his groove against the lively lefty serve of Ben Shelton yesterday at the Gonet Geneva Open, where the Italian downed the NextGenATP American 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 at the ATP 250.Taking on one of the ATP Tour’s brightest young talents for the first time, Cecchinato converted four of his 11 break points in the first-round encounter. He rallied from 3-5 to take the first set and dominated the third to clinch a two-hour, two-minute triumph.Cecchinato also reached the second round in Geneva in 2021 and 2022. The World No. 83 will attempt to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in four appearances when he takes on home favourite Marc-Andrea Huesler or Wu Yibing next in Switzerland.